NEW YORK (CBSDFW.COM) – For those who are excited about the release of “New Super Mario Bros. 2″ on the Nintendo 3DS, there is both good and bad news. Now, before you jump to any conclusions, know that the good seriously outweighs any bad.

Starting with the good news, anyone who grew up on a classic NES system and played the original “Super Mario Bros.” games will immediately recognize and wax nostalgic at this new handheld entry to the classic gaming series. Combining elements you will recognize from “Super Mario Bros.” and, to a much greater extent, “Super Mario Bros. 3,” the side-scrolling game includes most of the upgrades and functionalities you know and love.

Gold coins have never been more vital to the game series as they are now in “New Super Mario Bros. 2,” with the ability to unlock key areas by obtaining the somewhat rare Star Coins found within most of levels. While traveling on the map and choosing your next location challenge, you will end up coming across a multitude of areas that are blocked until you have the minimum number of Star Coins needed to unlock the path. This will obviously up the replay value on many levels as you take on the challenges again and again to try and find any Star Coins you may have missed the first, or even second time, around.

Now for the bad news. “New Super Mario Bros. 2″ is a classic sidescroller that harkens back to one of the groundbreaking games from the Mario series, “Super Mario Bros. 3.” For any of who played and loved that game, this will be a chance to play it all over again in a whole new way with updated graphics and some new functionalities included. It’s also a chance to introduce this particular style of classic sidescrolling gaming to a new generation, who will hopefully embrace the fun and challenge that comes with this style of play. There will be some who simply may not enjoy classic sidescrolling after such innovations to the Mario series such as the much-lauded “Super Mario Galaxy” (and almost every game in the Mario series created in the 21st century). If you know sidescrolling gaming isn’t something you enjoy, then “New Super Mario Bros. 2″ will simply not be the game for you.

To everyone else, however, “New Super Mario Bros. 2″ for the Nintendo 3DS is a nostalgic tribute to the classic series and masterpiece in its own right.